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ZARKUS, Iraq (Reuters) - From the military
bunker which serves as his office, Ibrahim Alizada
can glimpse the snow-capped mountains of his
homeland as he plots the downfall of Iran's Islamist
government just 50 km (30 miles) away.
Alizada, who fled Iran in 1985, heads the Iraqi
branch of Komala -- an Iranian Kurd socialist party
which gives succour to Kurds crossing into Iraq to
escape persecution in Iran.
About 1,000 Iranian Kurds live in the party's
hillside compound near Sulaimaniya, in the heart of
northern Iraq's Kurdish zone, and nearly a third are
trained guerrillas. Each week dozens more arrive.
"We're getting about six new arrivals every day. Of
these, we usually accept two or three," said
grey-haired Alizada, who describes himself as an
intellectual.
His group takes on about 30 trainees each month,
half of whom are sent back into Iran to conduct
"clandestine activities" after receiving training at
the mountain camp, he says.
Despite growing U.S.-led pressure on Iran, Alizada
is quick to play down the prospect of linking up
with Western powers to try to bring down the Islamic
government that has ruled in Tehran since the 1979
revolution that overthrew the Shah.
"We can't rule that out, but we think it's
unlikely," said Alizada, adding that his party
receives no support from Washington, although, "they
close their eyes to our activities."
"We don't expect changes in the short-term --
perhaps two or three years ... we are waiting for
the people to start changing the situation (in
Iran)," he said, somewhat wistfully.
READY TO FIGHT
Kurds, perhaps the world's largest ethnic group
without a nation, number about 20 million spread
mostly across Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran. They
enjoy the most strength and autonomy in Iraq, where
there is a Kurdish regional government.
Komala is just one of several Iranian Kurd political
parties now based in the Kurdish zone of northern
Iraq, and the region is also home to around 10,000
Iranian Kurd political refugees.
As well as Komala, the Kurdistan Democratic Party of
Iran also draws wide support from the exile
community.
The groups have differing ideologies, which has led
to friction in the past, but activists say there is
a new-found sense of unity -- seven Iranian
opposition groups, including the main Kurdish ones,
have signed a co-operation pact.
Iraqi Kurd officials acknowledge the presence of
politically-active Iranian Kurd groups in their
region, which encompasses three provinces of
northern Iraq, but say military activities are both
non-existent and prohibited.
Iranian Kurd groups participated in the 1979
overthrow of the Shah, but fell out with the central
government due to the Shi'ite Islamic
revolutionaries' hardline religious principles --
Kurds, while more secular, are predominantly Sunni
Muslims.
After years of armed resistance in the Kurdish
region of western Iran, many fled to Iraq pursued by
Iranian forces who staged frequent cross-border
raids to eradicate subversive elements -- Komala's
camp was attacked three times in the 1990s.
These days, the bomb shelters which protected
Komala's members from Iranian missile and mortar
attacks are used only for practice drills. But the
group has its own expanding militia force and armed
guards keep watch over the camp.
In one of its huts, young men and women in
traditional Kurdish military uniform gather for a
lesson in political thought. Each holds a
Kalashnikov rifle and listen attentively as their
teacher outlines the ills of Iranian society.
"Women must defend themselves from the suffering
they endure in the Islamic Republic. Any revolution
which does not include women will fail," is one
female trainee's fierce response to a question about
sexual equality.
Many of the camp members are heartened by rumblings
of dissent emanating from within Iran, but there is
suspicion over the wisdom of any Western-backed
direct intervention.
"Iraq is a good example. The U.S. came here and
liberated the area, but people are still being
killed here every day," said Shoresh Salahi, 26, who
left Iran seven years ago.
"We are ready to fight if necessary ... but we don't
think the U.S. is trying to help the Iranian people.
They have their own interests at heart."
WAITING GAME?
Salahi said fomenting change in Iran indirectly and
through the media was preferable to joining up with
external forces, and that seems to be the focus of
the group's activities.
From a makeshift recording studio in another section
of the camp, subversive radio programmes are
broadcast across Iranian frequencies. The party also
publishes a newspaper and leaflets intended for
distribution inside Iran.
"We try to make connections with social
organisations and communities inside Iran," Alizada
said. "We're not expecting the United States to do
the same thing they have done here in Iraq."
But having seen their Iraqi Kurd neighbours first
rid themselves of an oppressive government and then
win a powerful voice in their own country, some
Iranian Kurds are eager for action.
"We're coming here to make something happen, to
fight for our rights," said Bijen Sultani, 25, who
arrived Iraq this year.
Sultani said that because of discrimination against
Kurds and women, she was barred from certain
university courses and could earn only $30 a month
despite as a physiotherapist.
Pointing to the improved situation for Iraq's
Kurdish minority, she said she hoped for a similar
scenario in Iran.
"With the help of the international community we can
remove the unbearable segregation which exists
within our society," she said.
Reuters
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